Hoist mechanism for toys



Oct. 29, 1957 J. G. GOKEY 2,810,984

HOIST MECHANISM FOR TOYS Filed June 1'7, 1953 United States Patent2,810,984 HOlST MECHANISM FOR TOYS Joseph G. Gokey, Freeport, Ill.,assignor' to Structo Manufacturing Company, Freeport, Ill., acorporation of Illinois Application June 17, 1953, Serial No. 362,244 2Claims. (Cl. 46-40) This invention relates to a new and improved hoistmechanism for toys.

The principal object is to provide a hoist mechanism of simple andeconomical construction, the salient feature of which is the provisionof a Windlass made from a single length of fairly heavy wire bent toprovide an operating crank portion together with the winding drumportion in the one piece, the winding drum portion being bent into theform of a crankshaft, which, when the cord attached to the load beinglifted is under tension, makes the Windlass self-locking by reason ofthe eccentricity of the wrist-pin portion of the crankshaft onto whichthe cord is wound, and hence a ratchet wheel and cooperating pawl thatwould otherwise be necessary are not needed, the resulting simpler andmuch cheaper windlass structure being also minus the only parts thatwould be apt to get out of order, so that it will easily last as long asthe toy.

The invention ing, in which- Fig. l is a side view of a toy tow truckhaving a hoist made in accordance with my invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are a side view and front view, respectively, of thehoist, showing the same full size, and

Fig. 4 is an isolated view of the crankshaft-shaped winding drum portionof the Windlass, an intermediate portion of the length of the wrist-pinportion being broken away to permit showing this part on a larger scale,the sheet metal bracket for connecting the cord to the Windlass beingalso shown correspondingly enlarged.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding partsthroughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 5 designates the body ofa tow truck 6 on the floor 7 of which a hoist 8 is mounted havingincorporated therein the improvements provided in accordance with myinvention.

The upright frame or boom 9 of the hoist 8 is made from a single pieceof sheet metal bent to channel shaped section to provide side walls 10and 11 connected by a front wall 12. The latter is cut away at 13 andsome of the metal of the front wall at this point is utilized to providea pair of forwardly projecting cars 14 for support of the improvedWindlass indicated generally by numeral 15. At the lower end of theframe 9 there are outwardly bent flanges 16 on the side walls 10 and 11which are snugly received under upwardly and inwardly bent lugs l7struck from the sheet metal of the floor 7 to support the hoist 8 inrigid relation to the body 5 of the truck. The frame 9 of the hoist isinclined to the rear as appears in Figs. 1 and 2 and its upper endportion 18 projects horizontally to the rear, the side walls 10 and 11having pie-shaped portions cut out at 19 and the front wall 12 beingbent at 20 to close the gaps at 19 and define the bracket extension 18.In the web of this channelshaped portion 18 openings 21 and 22 arepunched leaving therebetween a cross-portion 23 to serve as a guide forthe cord 24 carrying the load attaching hook 25 on its is illustrated inthe accompanying draw- ICC free end. Part of the metal from the openings21 and 22 is bent downwardly to define reinforcing flanges 26 and at thesame time provide rounded edges 27 on the crossbar 23 so that the cordwill slide more easily over the cross-bar and with less Wear. The cord24 is extended upwardly from the Windlass 15 through an opening 28 inthe front wall 12 over the top of the cross-bar 18 and down to supportthe load. The load is raised and lowered with hook 25 by winding up andpaying out the cord 24 with Windlass 15.

The Windlass or winch 15 is made from a single piece of fairly heavywire 29 bent to provide an operating crank portion 30, together with thewinding drum portion 31 in the one piece, the winding drum portion 31being bent into the form of a crank-shaft having coaxially arrangedtrunnion portions 32 and 33 located on the center line ab (Fig. 4) andreceived in bearings 34 provided in the ears 14, and a wrist pin portion35 on the center line cd (Fig. 4) in eccentric relation to the trunnionsto the small extent appearing in Fig. 4 and adapted to have the cord 24wound thereon in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 3. As seen in Fig. 4,the eccentricity of wrist pin portion 35 with respect to the trunnions32 and 33 is approximately equivalent to the diameter of the wire 29.Due to the slight eccentricity of the wrist pin portion 35 the Windlass15 operates almost as smoothly as one having no eccentricity and yet itis self-locking and will not turn when the cord 24 is placed undertension as a result of a load being carried on hook 25. Consequently,the child in playing with the toy can have the fun of lifting anothertoy by its front end using the hoist and does not have to remember tooperate a catch of some kind to lock the hoist holding the hoistedvehicle in the towing position, because the usual ratchet wheel andcooperating pawl that would otherwise be necessary in a situation ofthis kind are omitted and are not needed with the present construction.The resulting simpler and much cheaper windlass construction has onlythe one moving part made of the one piece of wire 29, and, of course,there is nothing about it that is apt to get out of order, whereassmaller and less serviceable parts like those of a ratchet mechanismwould be quite apt to fail sooner or later with the rough usage mostchildren give their toys.

While a portion of the Wire 29 could perhaps be flattened and the widerflat portion pierced to provide a place for attaching the inner end ofthe cord 24, I prefer to provide a generally triangular-shaped sheetmetal bracket 36 secured to the Windlass and having a hole 37 providedtherein into which the inner end of the cord 24 may be threaded and thenknotted to fasten the cord to the windlass. The bracket 36 is of doublethickness, being made from an elongated piece of sheet metal foldedacross the middle, as indicated at 38, and having a hole 39 in themiddle of the folded portion through which one elbow 40 of thecrankshaft shaped winding drum portion of the Windlass is entered, afterwhich corner portions 41 and 42 of the bracket are pressed together toclinch the bracket in place and make it a rigid part of the winding drumportion 31. With this construction there is no weakening of the Windlassas there might be if the wire was flattened and pierced to provide thehole 37 for attachment of the cord.

it is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims havebeen drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, a combination toy winding drum andoperating crank therefor consisting of a single piece of fairly heavystiff wire bent to crank form atone end and having the rest of the piecebent to elongated crankshaft form providing coaxially arranged spacedtrunnion portions and between them, at a small radial distance, aneccentrically arranged wrist pin portion adapted to serve as a windingdrum onto which a hoist cord may be wound, and a folded sheet metalbracket member adapted to be secured to said winding drum for attachingone end of the hoist cord having a hole provided in the folded portionthrough which the radially extending portion of the wire at one end ofthe wrist pin portion is entered so as to dispose the bracket memberdiagonally with respect to the wrist pin portion, said bracket memberbeing compressed to clinch the said radially extending portion thereinto secure the bracket rigidly and non-rotatably on said crankshaftportion, said bracket having a hole provided therein through which oneend of a hoist cord may be passed for fastening.

2. A toy hoist comprising an upright boom made from a single elongatedpiece of sheet metal bent to form an elongated channel providing sidewalls and a connecting web portion therebetween forming the front wallof the boom, two portions of the web being cut away to provide a loweropening and an upper opening, some of the metal from the lower openingbeing in the form of outwardly extending ears integral with the sidewalls at opposite sides of said lower opening, a winding drum mounted inbearing holes provided in said ears and rotatable by a crank extendingfrom one side of the boom, the upper end portion of the boom being benthorizontally to provide a bracket extension of channel section in whichtwo portions of the web in fore and aft spaced relation are cut away todefine therebetween a crossbar and the front and rear edge portions ofsaid bar being bent downwardly tn define rounded edges on the bar, and acord attached at one end to and wound on said drum and extendingupwardly through the aforesaid upper opening in the boom and over saidbar and down for connection with a load to be hoisted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,5l4,544 Lang Nov. 1.4, 1924 l,652,l35 Arden Dec. 6, 1927 1,660,780Arden Feb. 28, 1928 2,623,774 Hubbard Dec. 30, 1952

